


A Pain In The Neck

by andthatisterrible



Series: Shoot Vampire AU [5]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/F, Vampires, a good bit softer than the previous ones overall though, and a lot of smut, and there's some cute hurt/comfort stuff, some other familiar faces show up, the ongoing tale of shoot banging a lot, vampire!shaw/human!root
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:09:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22015400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthatisterrible/pseuds/andthatisterrible
Summary: Vampires aren't supposed to get sick, so what's wrong with Shaw? Root has to enlist help from an unlikely ally. Also they have sex a ton because that's like 90% of the 'plot' of this series.
Relationships: Root/Sameen Shaw
Series: Shoot Vampire AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562674
Comments: 28
Kudos: 182





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> cw: just a whole lot of banging, strap-ons, handcuffs, sexy vampire bite stuff, possibly less kinky than previous installments?, also an offscreen torture of an unnamed person who probably had it coming

Shaw refused to admit that there was anything wrong even after the third time she threw up.

"I'm fine, Root. Leave me alone."

Root looked at where Shaw was sitting in a sullen huddle on the bathroom floor, clutching a towel stained with the blood she kept throwing up.

"Did you try to eat food?" she asked again, since that was the only thing she knew for sure made vampires throw up.

"No, I'm not an idiot. Go away."

Under different circumstances Root might have found cranky, sick Shaw adorable, but right now she was just worried.

Terrified, actually.

"What else could cause this?" she asked.

"It's probably nothing. I just need to rest and get some fresh blood."

"Sameen…"

"I said I'm fine."

Root reached down and grabbed Shaw's arm. "On your feet then."

"Why?" Shaw asked suspiciously, but she didn't resist as Root pulled her up.

"If you need rest then you should be in bed." She steered Shaw into the bedroom and gave her a little push towards the bed.

Shaw grumbled but crawled in under the covers and curled up in a small, miserable heap. Root came and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Think you can drink some blood without getting sick again?"

"Maybe. I wonder if that last batch I got could have been bad somehow."

Root rolled her sleeve up and pressed her wrist to Shaw's mouth. "Better safe than sorry. Take mine instead."

Shaw didn't need much convincing to latch onto Root's wrist with her fangs. It hurt more than it usually did--like Shaw wasn't being quite as careful--but Root barely noticed. She stroked Shaw's hair back as Shaw drank from her and watched her, worried. What the hell could have made her sick like this?

Shaw released her much sooner than Root had expected--she'd barely taken any at all.

"I'm going to try to rest now," Shaw said. "And, uh, I might be more asleep than you're used to seeing me."

Root was used to the light sleep that Shaw called drifting where Shaw wasn't fully unconscious. Closer to meditation she'd always assumed.

"Is there anything I should keep an eye out for?" she asked. How would she know if Shaw was getting worse?

But Shaw was already asleep. Definitely more deeply asleep than Root had ever seen her. Shaw usually breathed a little all the time, though far less than a human would have (Root had seen her panting and gasping but those had been special circumstances), but now Root counted only one breath every minute or so. Shaw's skin was also paler than usual, and there were deep, dark circles under her eyes. She didn't move at all as Root watched her and for the first time ever Root really remembered that vampires were supposedly not alive.

Could Shaw still die? What would that even mean?

After thirty minutes passed with no change, Root lifted the edge of the covers and slid in behind Shaw. Normally, Shaw would never have stood for being the little spoon, but she was so deeply unconscious that she likely had no way of knowing that Root was curled up around her back.

Root wasn't sure how long she stayed there, arms wrapped around Shaw's body and face buried in the back of her neck. She might have stayed there forever if a noise hadn't caught her attention. A buzzing. A cellphone on vibrate.

Root's phone was off and in pieces in another room, so it couldn't have been hers, but she'd never once heard Shaw's phone go off in all their time together. She reached across Shaw to grab it off the nightstand just in time to see the call go to voicemail.

Breaking into Shaw's phone wasn't particularly hard, and Root figured the fact she had stopped herself from doing so this far meant that it was completely reasonable that she do so now. She started out by hitting the voicemail notification to get Shaw's messages.

_"Shaw, it's me. Listen, I'm sorry to bother you, but I just got word that there's some anti-vampire group going around contaminating blood at hospitals that vampires get blood bags from. A bunch of us have died already. Just...be careful. Maybe stick to humans for a few weeks. And call me if you need anything."_

Root checked the name on the call which just said: John. Not too helpful. She pulled up Shaw's contact list and found only three numbers: the post office down in the village, John's, and her own. Well, whoever this John was he was important enough that Shaw had his number in her phone.

Root sat up and checked on Shaw. She looked exactly the same as earlier, only the very occasional weak breath letting Root know she was still...alive? Still something. She shook Shaw's shoulder.

"Sameen? Can you hear me? I need to know more about this John person."

Shaw didn't stir.

It would have been simple enough to just call John back, but Root had one more option before she took that step. She got her laptop from her room and returned to sit pressed up against Shaw's back while she did some research. John's number belonged to a John Riley. The address associated with the account was in Oregon, and fake, and the credit card and bank account she found from that also used that same address. There was nothing else.

Definitely a vampire. Most of them didn't seem to be trying to cover their tracks so much as refusing to use any sort of modern systems that would create them in the first place. She wouldn't have been shocked if this John guy had a pile of gold bars buried in the desert somewhere.

She chewed her lip indecisively. If Shaw had drunk contaminated blood….

She called the number back.

"Shaw?" a man's voice on the other end of the line asked.

"Afraid not. I'm a...friend of Shaw's. I need to know more about this blood contamination you mentioned."

"Is Shaw okay? Is she there with you?"

There were so many factors at play here. Maybe this John knew where Shaw lived but had never attacked because he was afraid of her and was just waiting for a chance like this. Or maybe he was her ally. His number had been in her phone….

"Shaw can't come to the phone right now. I just need to know about the blood. How dangerous is it?"

"How much did she have?"

Well, it'd been an extremely long shot that he wouldn't catch on.

"I'm not sure. Maybe half a bag?" Shaw had fed off of her yesterday so she hadn't needed much. "She's asleep now. Like really deeply asleep. Is that normal?"

"You're human." He sounded confused.

"That does seem to be the case, yes. Now what can you tell me about this contaminated blood?"

John sighed. "It's really nasty. Done a number on everyone who's drunk it, but it takes them down fast. If she's not dead then she'll probably pull through."

Root looked down at Shaw's sleeping face, willing that to be true. "What can I do to help her?"

"She's going to need a lot of clean blood when she wakes up."

"I can give her that."

"She's going to need a lot more than just one human can provide. I have safe blood I can bring there."

Root shifted uneasily. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"No offense, but I don't care what you think. I don't know who you are, but Shaw is like family to me and if she needs help, I'm going to be there for her."

"If you so much as--"

The line went dead.

Root glared at the phone and then dropped it on the bed. If this John knew where they were then he could teleport here. Technically he could teleport to anywhere in the castle that he had seen before, but it made the most sense to choose somewhere outdoors where there was less likely to be surprise new furniture.

She hurried down to the basement and grabbed a crossbow off the wall and a brace of silver-plated arrows. Then she jogged up to the window above the front door on the second floor where she had a good view of the whole front yard. She pushed the window open and sat on the sill, facing out with one leg hanging out the window and the crossbow in her lap.

Shaw hadn't put a lot of effort into the grounds, partly because the overgrown garden helped add to the haunted castle look, and partly because she didn't give a shit. It was summer now which meant that there were all types of flowers and weeds taking over the yard. The front walk remained mostly clear thanks to the efforts of a very determined gardener who came by once every other week for that sole purpose.

Root kept her eye on the gate set in the stone wall at the edge of the property and, about five minutes after she'd taken up position, a large, dark figure appeared right outside the gate. She raised the bow.

The man who pushed the gate open was wearing a long black coat despite the hot weather, with a hood covering his head and a scarf wrapped partly around his face. Definitely a vampire. He was holding a large crate under one arm as if it weighed nothing.

"Hold it!" she called when he got partway up the walk.

The man, John, looked up and spotted her. "I'm here to help."

"There's traps all over the yard, so stay where you are."

"No, there aren't. Shaw doesn't boobietrap her yard because of the kids who sneak in sometimes."

The fact he knew that about Shaw suggested that they were friends, or at least not enemies, but Root couldn't afford to take any chances dealing with a vampire. She wouldn't stand a chance in a fair fight.

The man took another step forwards and Root raised the crossbow in a more threatening way.

"What's in the crate?" Not that he wasn't enough of a threat by himself.

"Blood for Shaw. Clean blood. I'm just here to help."

"Prove it."

"How?"

She couldn't think of a single way he could. Stalemate.

"How about I come in and you can keep pointing the crossbow at me in case I step out of line?"

Up close there was a chance she wouldn't be able to get a shot off faster than he could move, but she wasn't sure what other options she had at this point.

"I'll come open the door."

John could easily have kicked the door down, but he was waiting patiently on the front steps when Root opened the door.

"Can I come in?"

"What if I say no?" She'd never asked Shaw about the whole vampires not being able to enter homes without permission thing.

"Then I'll come in anyway, but you won't like it much."

Well, that was that question answered. She stepped aside to let him in, but kept the crossbow aimed.

John pulled his coat off (which Root was delighted to see was almost cape-like) and unwound the scarf from his face. "Where is Shaw?"

"She's asleep upstairs."

"How long since she got sick?"

"She started throwing up this morning. She's been asleep for maybe an hour." She nodded at the crate. "That's blood bags?"

"Yeah, we need to get these in her fridge. Through here, right?"

John clearly knew his way around the castle, she realized as she followed him to the kitchen. She saw a brief flicker of surprise on his face when he opened the fridge and found it full of actual food.

"Do you live here?" he asked. "There was a rumor that Shaw and some human caused problems for Control a little while back, but I didn't think Shaw would ever have a…." He grimaced and trailed off.

"I'm not some vampire pet, if that's what you mean."

John shook his head. "No, that wasn't what I was thinking. Shaw wouldn't…. Though the alternative is almost as unbelievable."

"I stay here sometimes. That's all you need to know."

"Can I see Shaw now?"

"For what purpose?"

John looked exasperated. "To make sure she's alright. I think I have a better idea of what that might look like than you do."

She couldn't argue with that, but she really wanted to.

"What happened to all of Shaw's weapons?" John asked, gesturing at the fridge.

Whoever this guy was he did seem to know a lot about Shaw. Root made up her mind.

"Shaw is this way."

John didn't seem to mind that Root stayed behind him with the crossbow bolt shoved up against his back. He knew where the stairs were, but seemed unsure which room was Shaw's until Root herded him towards it with pointed nudges from the crossbow. Once inside, Root had to resist the urge to push past him and check on Shaw immediately. To her surprise, John didn't seem inclined to go anywhere near Shaw, but simply looked her over from a distance. Of course his heightened senses probably gave him more to go off of than her own human ones did.

"She's going to stay asleep for a few more hours," he said at last. "Then she'll need a lot of blood to recover."

"But she will recover?"

"I don't think she's in any real danger. She probably didn't get a lethal dose and if she threw up then she might have gotten a lot of it out of her system." He looked back over his shoulder at her. "If you need me to leave now, I can, but I'd like to stay until she wakes up."

Root lowered the crossbow finally. "I need some information from you, so I guess you get to stay for now." She walked past him to sit on the edge of the bed. "Pull up a chair."

She risked a look down at Shaw who was still exactly the way she'd left her. She gently brushed the hair back off Shaw's face and searched for any sign of...anything.

"She can still hear you," John said from behind her. "Faintly, and it'll seem like a dream, but she'll know you're here."

Root brushed her thumb across Shaw's cheekbone before turning back around to find John watching her with thoughtfully.

"Am I allowed to ask your name now?"

She figured he'd earned at least that much. "You can call me Root."

"I'm John Reese."

"Not John Riley?"

John's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "Now where did you hear that name?"

"It's tied to your phone number and credit card. I figured it was fake. I'd assume Reese is fake, too?"

"Are any names actually real, Root?"

She smiled in acknowledgment. "Some are more important than others."

John smiled back at her, equally fake. "You said you needed some information from me?"

Root scooped up her laptop. "You mentioned an anti-vampire group in your message. I need to know everything you know about them."

"Why?"

"So I can kill them, obviously."

John's eyebrows shot up. "You think you're up to that?"

Root almost laughed. "I'm sure I'll manage somehow. Now what do you know?"

John looked like he was going to argue, but then shrugged. "They call themselves Defanged, and they've been around maybe five years. We've caught a couple of them, but we've never found out who's behind them and where the money is coming from."

" _Defanged_? Really?" Root shook her head sadly as her fingers flew over her keyboard. "Well, I can tell you they don't employ someone who's good at web design. Their website looks like someone's resurrected geocities site with some repurposed hate speech in times new roman."

"Uh, what?"

"They're not terrible at covering their tracks, but they're still amateurs. I can tell you who paid the person who maintains this horrible site, and the person who pays them…." She tapped her lips with one finger. "I think they're one of the people I'll want to have a word with."

"Uhhh…"

"Let's see who their friends are." She was feeling better now, more in control. She didn't know how to help sick vampires, but this part here? This was her world. "Hmm, yes, they're not nearly as clever as they think they are." She hit a few more keys. "Okay, I have a list of the names and all known addresses of what I would guess is the vast majority of the Defanged group. Would you believe they have a mailing list for their active operatives? There might be a few ignorant contractors mixed in, but--" She shrugged. "--you know what they say about omelettes."

"You're going to kill all of them?"

"They hurt Shaw."

John nodded. "Good point. Maybe I should have asked _how_ you're planning to kill them all?"

"I have a few favors I can call in for some of these. The rest might take me a little longer since they're spread all over. Shaw could teleport us near some of them once she's feeling better."

"The leaders of the group are the most important to take out. It might keep the group from causing any new trouble. I can take care of them right now if you give me their names."

Root hesitated. She _really_ wanted to kill them herself, but she wasn't going anywhere while Shaw was still asleep and John had a point.

"Fine." She hit a few more keys and the phone in John's pocket buzzed. "The main two are actually very close together, both in Los Angeles. I sent you their addresses."

John took his phone out and looked at the message. "I won't be able to get back here until tomorrow, you know."

"I'm aware. Is there anything else I need to know about taking care of her that you've neglected to tell me?"

"No, just let her rest and give her blood when she wakes up. Vampires don't get sick the way humans do. We can be weakened, but only temporarily. If it didn't kill her, she'll recover."

"And if she'd had more, would there have been any way to save her?" Root asked quietly.

"Maybe a full blood transfusion if you did it fast enough, but I'm honestly not sure."

Root nodded to herself. "Kill them slowly."

John looked like he was going to say something, but changed his mind and stayed quiet.

Root waited until he had scoped out an area to teleport to (apparently he was tech savvy enough to use Shaw's google maps trick) and vanished before she put her own plan into action. She grabbed a pack and threw a few supplies from the kitchen in it: a large butcher's knife, a few packs of the contaminated blood, a funnel, and a turkey baster (just in case). In her research of Defanged, she'd found the name of the man who'd brought the contaminated blood to the hospital down in the village. He was a local and he definitely knew what he'd been doing which meant he was going to get a little visit tonight.

She was almost cheerful as she climbed into the driver's seat of her current stolen car. It was only a short drive to the man's house and with Shaw still unconscious for a few hours she'd be able to take her time and really _enjoy_ this. Her day was finally looking up.

* * *

Shaw felt like she was lying in the bottom of a well, cut off from the world but able to see the sky passing by far above her. She could hear the distant echo of voices, feel the muted sensations of touch, but it was hard to tell if it was all her mind playing tricks on her or not.

Some things felt more real than others: fingers brushing her cheek, a warm body pressed up against her, a soft voice in her ear, and a familiar scent. Root. Root would watch her back while she slept. It was a comforting thought.

She faded in and out of various levels of consciousness for what felt like forever. It was like floating in a still, dark pool, just under the surface, watching the water reflect on a cave ceiling above. Something touched the surface of the water above her and the water rippled around it. She fumbled to reach up through the dark water for it and, somehow, something reached back. A warm hand closed over hers and tugged her back towards the surface.

Consciousness hit her like a crowbar to the face and she jolted upright, staring around herself.

"Shaw."

She turned towards the voice and found Root sitting next to her in the bed, her face twisted in a grimace.

"Shaw, my hand."

Shaw looked down and saw Root's hand in her own, squeezed tight. She forced her fingers to loosen their grip and released Root. She raised her gaze back up to apologize, but something else caught her attention.

"You smell like blood. Not your own." Some of it smelled like collected blood, from a blood bag, but some of it smelled fresh.

Root rubbed her hand and nodded. "I found the man who brought the contaminated blood you drank to the hospital. He won't be a problem anymore."

"Oh." She wasn't sure what to make of that. "Is your hand okay?"

"It's fine, sweetie, the real question is how are you?"

As out of it as she was, it was easy for Shaw to see how much concern Root was trying to hide. Her body was wound tight like a spring from it and Shaw wasn't sure what to do about that. Mostly her whole brain was wrapped around the single very important fact that she was starving. "I need blood."

"If you drink from me, will you be able to stop yourself?" Root asked. She was already rolling up her sleeve though, like the answer didn't even matter.

Shaw thought that over. She'd never even come close to losing control when feeding, and it felt unlikely to happen, but there was no reason not to play it safe. And something about the fact Root hadn't waited for the answer bugged her. "Yes, but give me a blood bag to start with anyway. If we have any we're sure are safe. You said someone contaminated them?" There was too much new information to process. Her head was pounding and her whole body ached.

"Yes, but we've got ones that are safe. Probably. How much do you trust John Reese?"

Yeah, way too much to process. "What the fuck does Reese have to do with it? Where did you even hear that name?"

"He brought some blood he said was safe. Can we trust that?"

Reese had been here? What the hell had she missed? "I trust Reese."

Root didn't look fully convinced, but she nodded and left the room.

Shaw looked around her room, trying to figure out just what the fuck had happened. She remembered throwing up and feeling like her veins were burning and how scared Root had been. And then she'd been asleep and there'd been a lot of vague voices and sounds and she remembered being very warm for a while and then cold again. Root had said contaminated blood. Had someone tried to poison her? And Root had killed them? Quite violently from the smell of things.

Root came back into the room with a bag of blood and that horrible poodle straw Shaw had gotten in New York that she'd really wanted to throw out. Right now she was too hungry to care though and she snatched it out of Root's hands and gratefully sucked on the straw.

"John will probably come back tomorrow sometime," Root said. She sat down on the edge of the bed to watch her. "If that's a problem, I can get rid of him."

Shaw briefly released the straw. "Get rid of him? Reese is a friend, Root. Don't kill him."

Root looked disappointed. "If you say so."

"I do." She went back to her straw.

"Well, he's currently busy killing the leaders of some anti-vampire group who call themselves Defanged of all things."

"Seriously?" Shaw rolled her eyes.

"Hopefully their terrible names and web design crimes will die with them."

Shaw finished the bag and set it down on the nightstand. "Sounds like you two have been busy. How'd Reese even get involved?"

"He called to warn you about the contaminated blood." Root made a face. "I wasn't sure if we could trust him or not, but he was the only other person in your phone and he seemed to know a lot about you."

"Yeah, we worked together a while ago." It had been almost a decade since she'd last seen him in person though. "You said this Defanged group was responsible for this?"

"Yes, but don't worry. I've got a list of all their members so it shouldn't be hard to put them out of business permanently."

Shaw would very much have liked to throw the lot of them off a tall building and watch them go splat, but…. "We'll send the list to Control."

Root's eyebrows shot up. "Control? Shaw, she--"

"Her group is heavily involved in keeping the peace between humans and vampires. Dealing with groups like this is part of their job. If I go start killing off humans all over that will cause all sorts of trouble. Better to let her lot deal with it." Hopefully whatever Reese was up to didn't draw too much attention to him.

"I'm not a vampire. I could kill them." Root didn't look like she was going to budge on this.

"Why don't we send an abbreviated list to Control and you can hold back a few names for yourself."

Root looked like she still wanted to argue, but she finally nodded in agreement. Shaw slumped back onto the pillows. She didn't have enough energy for complicated murder compromises right now.

"You should have some of my blood now," Root said. "John said you'd need a lot and that some of it should be fresh."

She'd just drained a whole blood bag and still felt exhausted and starving so he was probably right.

"I can probably get myself to a donor," she offered.

Root opened her mouth as if to say something and then shut it again and silence hung between them. Shaw knew that Root didn't mind when she fed on her, knew that she actually seemed to enjoy it, but she couldn't quite make herself stop offering to find an alternative. Too many years of avoiding bullshit vampire mentality about what humans owed them maybe. Or maybe she was just worried about what it meant to Root.

"Let me grab a shower first and then we can…." She waved a hand at her own neck to finish the thought.

Root's face lit up and that made the whole awkward disaster worth it. "I can join you in the shower instead, if you want."

Shaw debated that. She wasn't up for anything too extended, but it could save time. As long as they didn't get too distracted.

"Actually, I have an even better idea," Root said. "How about a nice, hot bath?"

Soaking in the jacuzzi tub sounded like just the thing, even if it would take longer than a shower and would almost definitely lead to distractions. "That could work."

She jumped in the shower to quickly rinse off as Root ran the bath. She still couldn't quite wrap her mind around everything that had happened. Reese had shown up and met Root. Root had tracked down an entire anti-vampire group and murdered one of them for her. Take one nap and miss all the fun.

The hot water felt really nice, but her legs were still shaky beneath her and her whole body felt sore. It sparked distant memories of having been sick as a human years and years ago. She was supposed to be immune to this sort of bullshit now but it wouldn't be the first time immortality wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

When she got out she found Root was already in the huge tub, relaxing in the steaming water between the jacuzzi jets. She looked peaceful there with her ends of her long hair floating around her in the water. Shaw climbed into the other side of the tub and sank down into the hot water and bubbles with a sigh. The aching in her body eased up as the heat wrapped around her.

"Feel better?" Root asked.

"A bit, yeah."

Shaw had stretched her legs out next to Root so the sides of their legs touched. Root nudged her in the thigh with one foot.

"You need to feed still."

"Yeah, in a second."

She took a few minutes to relax in the hot water and shut her eyes. The water stirred and Shaw half-opened one eye to see Root moving over to join her.

"Turn sideways a bit," Root directed as she settled next to her.

"What for?"

"You'll see."

Shaw was too tired to argue and turned so her back was to Root. Almost at once, Root's fingers traced along her skin and then gently kneaded her aching shoulders. She wasn't sure how Root had known how sore her body felt--maybe the way she'd moved had given it away--but the gently pressure of Root's fingers rubbing her shoulders, arms, and then her back felt amazing. She shut her eyes again and relaxed into it.

"Tell me about John."

Shaw cracked one eye open. "Why?"

"He's the only other person in your phone, so I assume he must be important for some reason."

Shaw shut her eye again. She was aware that she could just not answer the question and Root probably wouldn't even be offended. That was one of the nice things about Root--she was nosey but she also didn't pry. But other than her initial reticence to share personal information with anyone, she found she didn't really mind telling Root.

"We've known each other a really long time. Used to work together. Reese is…" Like a brother, she wanted to say, but the words felt awkward. "He's been a good friend over the years."

Root's fingers rubbed the sides of her neck. "Did you know him before you were a vampire?"

"No."

"Did you--"

Shaw decided she was done answering questions, though, and pushed herself off the side of the tub, faster than any human could move. Even with the water slowing her down she had turned around and pushed Root back against the side before Root could finish her question. She straddled Root's legs and looked down at her, eyes tracing her neck.

"Did I what, Root?" Shaw asked as she settled down on top of her.

"Strange, I suddenly seem to have forgotten my question." Root's hands crept around to grab Shaw's butt. "Can't imagine why."

Shaw brushed the wet hair back from the side of Root's neck. She'd been gone long enough that all the bite marks had healed (other than two recent ones on her wrist from feeding), which was safer for her when she was running around the world, but a disappointment to Shaw. Well, she'd just have to leave plenty of new ones.

There were drops of water on Root's neck, either from the tub or sweat, and Shaw swore she could almost see the blood rushing through Root's veins beneath her skin. She couldn't remember ever having been this hungry before in her life--maybe back right after she'd been turned but that was too far to remember. But she needed to be careful, not take too much. Preferably not take nearly as much as she normally would have. Having both of them out of it would be less than ideal.

She pressed her lips softly to Root's neck to taste the sweat there and felt Root sigh under her. Root tilted her head slightly, giving Shaw more access to her neck, and Shaw couldn't help but wonder at the trust Root had for her. She'd gotten the impression over their time together that Root rarely trusted anyone, and yet here she was freely offering herself up, completely unafraid that Shaw would hurt her even by accident.

"What're you waiting for, Sameen?"

Shaw answered with her fangs, piercing deep into Root. Root tensed and shivered under her before relaxing. Root's blood was fresh and warm and flowed through her like a flood. She could feel her body starting to repair itself even as she drank.

Root's hand cupped the side of her face and that was definitely too intimate for this in Shaw's opinion. Shaw snatched it away with her own hand and pressed Root's arm back onto the edge of the tub behind her. Root's hand squirmed in hers and her fingers intertwined with Shaw's on the porcelain of the tub. It would have been easy to pull away, but Shaw was too focused on feeding to care enough so she allowed it.

Pulling back was hard. Her body craved more blood still, but she ignored her instincts and released Root with a final lick across the fresh bite on her neck to catch a stray drop of blood. She sat up and looked down at Root.

Root's face was flushed and her heart was pounding. Shaw's exhausted and starved brain might have sleep and feeding as priorities, but Root clearly had something else on her mind.

"Shaw?" Root's voice was threaded with eagerness and there was a question in it. Shaw felt Root's other hand stroking her thigh under the water. She shook her head.

"I think being poisoned killed my sex drive for the evening. Maybe tomorrow." Possibly the most tragic thing she'd ever said out loud.

Root's hand retreated and Shaw saw a flicker of actual concern on her face which was so fucking annoying that she had no choice but to slide a hand down between them. She wasn't in the mood, but that didn't mean she couldn't get Root off. It wouldn't do to have a massively horny Root waking her up before she was better, so really this was just a medical necessity.

They both shifted around so Shaw could have better access and Root's head fell back against the edge of the tub as Shaw sank into her with two fingers. It was entrancing to watch the little reactions on Root's face from this close. Every tiny expression and sound were inescapable here and Shaw savored all of them. She curled her fingers in Root and felt her grip tighten where their fingers were still entwined. Root's other hand clutched her back and left marks on her shoulder blade.

Shaw took her fast and just a bit rough and Root curled into her and bit down brutally hard on her shoulder when she came. The burst of pain almost felt good enough to change Shaw's mind and let Root have her way, but she could feel herself lagging. She pulled her fingers out of Root and reclaimed her other hand.

"Well, that was nice." Root looked half asleep as well. When had she last slept?

"Come on, we're going to bed."

They both fumbled around as they dried off and got ready to sleep. Shaw had never been so relieved to crawl into her own bed. She was going to really sleep again, that deep healing rest that left her vulnerable.

"It's okay," Root said, as if she'd heard her thoughts. "I'll stay awake and shoot anyone who comes near the castle."

"You're not allowed to shoot Reese." She got an arm around Root and scooped her up into the curve of her body. Root wouldn't have any choice but to sleep if she was trapped here. "Go to sleep. It'll be fine."

She would never in a million lifetimes admit that having Root warm up against her made her feel slightly less miserable.

"But I want to help," Root said so quietly that Shaw thought she might have missed it without her vampire hearing.

She tightened her arm around Root as she drifted back under, not sure how to explain that she was already helping.

* * *

It was early evening when Shaw woke up. There were no windows in her bedroom, but she could tell. Some innate vampire instinct no doubt.

Root was still curled up next to her, sound asleep. Shaw carefully propped herself up and brushed back the hair from Root's neck so she could see the twin red puncture marks there. She nodded in satisfaction. All the other marks on Root's neck had healed while she'd been away, and Shaw had her work cut out for her matching the previous count.

"Shaw?" Root didn't sound fully awake and didn't open her eyes.

"Sorry. Go back to sleep."

Root shook her head and rolled over on her back. She blinked her eyes open and looked up at Shaw sleepily. "Are you feeling better?"

Shaw considered that. Her body still faintly ached and she definitely wasn't up to doing anything strenuous, but she felt like she was a lot better than she had been.

"I think I need to feed on another human and rest for a few more hours before I'm back to normal, but yeah."

"Your friend John will be back sometime tonight probably."

Shaw had forgotten about that. Root had gotten up to so much while she'd been asleep, and had still managed to stay next to her for most of it (she had vague memories from when she'd been asleep of Root's voice and her warmth up against her). She wondered how much worse off she'd be right now if Root hadn't been here to help. Hell, if she hadn't had Root around to feed on, she might have drunk more of that contaminated blood and be dead right now.

"Is something wrong?" Root asked, her brow wrinkled in concern.

Shaw realized she'd zoned out--very unusual for her and probably another sign she still wasn't quite recovered fully.

Shaw shook her head, mind busy evaluating possibilities. "Want to go get a strap-on from the drawer?"

Root's surprised look at the seeming non-sequitur lasted only a second and was replaced with an eager smile. She slipped out of bed and came back a minute later. Shaw propped herself up against the headboard and kicked the covers back.

"C'mere." She urged Root to straddle her lap, strap-on discarded to the side for the moment. Root looked curious and when she opened her mouth as if to ask a question, Shaw pulled her down into a kiss. It was slow and sliding and not at all like the normal rough, messy making out they both enjoyed. When it broke off, Shaw moved down, kissing Root's neck and sucking on the bite mark she'd left there the day before.

Root shivered as her tongue ran over the bite. "You can bite me again if you want."

Shaw ignored her and instead moved down further and took one of Root's nipples into her mouth. She nipped at it carefully with her front teeth, careful to keep her fangs clear, and then ran her tongue over it soothingly. Root moaned and pushed her chest forward, her fingers biting into Shaw's shoulders.

Shaw switched to her other breast and gave it the same treatment, taking her time. She could tell Root was enjoying herself from where she was pressed up against her thigh. Shaw's thumbs pressed into Root's ribcage right below her breasts just short of bruising. She didn't want to hurt her, not now. Not this time.

Root grabbed her face and pulled her back up for another long kiss, her lips parting eagerly for Shaw's tongue. Shaw urged her up a little with her hands on her hips so she could slip one hand between Root's legs and feel just how wet she'd gotten from a little making out. She played with her for a minute, rubbing her clit and then dipping inside her with one finger for just a second. She chuckled at Root's attempt to sink down onto her finger and pulled away.

"Get off for a second."

Root sat back on the bed, one hand between her legs as she watched Shaw pull the strap-on harness on. Shaw's eyes flicked back and forth between rubbing lube on the dildo Root had gotten and the way Root's arm flexed as she slowly pressed her fingers into herself.

"You ready?" Shaw asked.

Root clambered back on top of her and pulled her in for another kiss which Shaw took to mean yes. She watched with rapt attention as Root grasped the base of the dildo with one hand and carefully guided it into herself. Root sank down onto it slowly, her head tilted back and her eyes shut and Shaw reached out to steady her, hands on Root's hips.

Root took a second to adjust and then rocked back and forth once, gently. The motion pulled a moan out of both of them and Shaw's fingers tightened. She wanted so badly to flip them over and fuck Root through the mattress, but she was trying to do something different here. Root started moving, rocking more forcefully and sliding up and down the length of the strap-on. Shaw tightened her grip on Root's hips, forced her to slow down, let Shaw set the pace. Root fought her control for a second, frustrated, but Shaw caught her eye and she subsided.

With the extra strength she got as a vampire, it was easy for Shaw to move Root, lifting her up just a little and then lowering her again as she thrust up with her hips. Root's breath stuttered out and when her eyes met Shaw's again her pupils were blown wide. She wrapped one hand around Shaw's upper arm right over her flexing muscles and her other hand curled behind Shaw's neck.

Shaw picked up the pace just a tiny bit, controlling Root's movements with her grip on her and holding eye contact with her. It was intimate and weird but still very hot.

"This is, mmm, really nice," Root managed to say between the slow gentle thrusts.

Shaw didn't answer, but she did take one hand away so she could roll her thumb over Root's clit. Root didn't try to speed things up, only continued to follow the guidance of Shaw's hand on her hip.

For a long time there were no sounds in the room other than their heavy breaths and the wet sounds of the strap-on sliding in and out of Root slowly. Shaw leaned forwards to take one of Root's nipples into her mouth again and tease it with her tongue.

"I need to...Shaw, please!" Root gasped out, her fingers tightening convulsively on Shaw.

"You got it."

Shaw returned her hand to Root's hip and sped up her movements, rolling her hips up and pulling Root down over and over, faster and faster. Root's nails bit into Shaw and her breath came out in drawn out moans punctuated by their movements. It didn't take long then, just a few seconds of their bodies rocking together, and Root tensed up and threw her head back, her body pressing into Shaw's, hard. Shaw smoothed her hands up and down Root's back as she came and rolled her hips gently against her.

She expected Root to climb off right away when she recovered, like she usually would have, so she was surprised when Root opened her eyes and looked right at her with no seeming intention to move.

"Good?" Shaw asked.

"Mmm, yeah." Root leaned in and kissed her again. Her hips rocked against Shaw's again and Shaw rolled her hips up in response. "I think I can come again with just a little…"

Shaw kept up the achingly slow movements and reached between them to rub firm circles around Root's clit until Root came again with a soft cry and slumped against Shaw.

This time Root was fast to slide off of the toy and collapsed next to Shaw on her back, breathing hard. Shaw struggled out of the harness and sat next to Root, watching her expectantly. Root stared right back up at her with an extra dopey smile on her face and her eyes shining. Shaw was pretty sure she knew what that soft look of Root's meant--hell she'd known for a while--but now it wasn't as alarming as it once was.

"Lie back and let me return the favor," Root said, pushing at her shoulder.

A distant noise caught Shaw's attention.

"Sounds great, but Reese just teleported into my front yard."

Root tugged insistently at her arm. "Let him wait."

"Later," Shaw said and got up. She was gone before Root could try again, moving at inhuman speed to clean herself up and pull on clothing. When she got back to the bed, Root hadn't budged.

"I'm going to go talk to Reese. You don't have to join if you'd rather not."

Root smiled, her expression still a little besotted. "I'll be down in a minute."

"Okay." Shaw turned to go.

"Shaw?"

Shaw looked back to see Root gesturing for her. She went over, suspicious, and Root grabbed her shirt collar and pulled her down into another kiss, this one messy and rough and not at all like the weird intimacy from earlier.

"Later today," Root said in a low voice full of promise. "I'm going to get down on my knees and lick you until your legs give out."

Shaw grinned. "Oh yeah?"

"Mmhmm."

"Later," Shaw agreed and pulled away.


	2. Chapter 2

Reese was waiting patiently by the door when Shaw got downstairs. He looked exactly the same as when she'd last seen him down to the stupid long coat that he was wearing despite the warm weather. And he smelled like other people's blood.

"Hear you went to defang Defanged," Shaw said opening the door so he could come in.

"Nice to see you, too, Shaw. And only a few of them," Reese said. "Your friend, Root, had a pretty long list of all the other members." His gaze held a question which Shaw chose to ignore.

"How'd you hear about the contaminated blood thing anyway?" Shaw asked as she led the way to the kitchen.

"Zoe called me."

"Makes sense she'd be the first to know." Zoe made it her business to know everyone else's business.

Shaw waved a hand at the fridge. "Help yourself."

Reese grabbed a blood bag out of the fridge and then started opening the cabinets, searching for something.

"You want a glass?" Shaw asked. She never bothered since it just would have been creating more work for herself. She opened the correct cabinet and Reese peered in.

"Will you just take one already?" Shaw asked after he'd stared at the glasses for far too long.

Reese opened the next cabinet over and his face lit up. Shaw rolled her eyes when she saw him pulling out the big, dark goblet that Root had bought her to 'match her vampire aesthetic'. Of course Reese would like that one.

"You look like you're feeling better," Reese said as he upended the blood bag over the goblet.

"Mostly. I think I need to go drink from a donor or two before I'm back to normal. Whatever that stuff was cut with was brutal."

"It's a good thing your...friend?" He made it a question but Shaw ignored him. "A good thing she called me back."

"Yeah, thanks for the warning and the blood."

They both looked up as Root swept into the room and Shaw froze in horror. Root was wearing a silk night robe and it looked like she'd purposefully messed up her hair extra. The bite mark on her neck was fully exposed and her cheeks were still flushed red.

She looked like she'd just been thoroughly fucked which, well, she had, but why had she chosen to show up to the kitchen like that? It must have been just to mess with Shaw.

Root eyed Reese with distaste and then perched on a stool next to Shaw at the counter. Reese was staring intently at his goblet of blood, face carefully expressionless.

"Well, did he manage to kill them?" Root asked her, ignoring Reese's presence.

"They're both dead," Reese confirmed. "I was going to deal with whoever the local members were here before I leave again. Unless you wanted to."

"Already taken care of," Root said smugly. "I gave him a...taste of his own medicine, you could say."

Shaw was going to get that full story out of Root later. "We're going to send the rest of the list on to Control. Let her deal with cleaning up the mess and all the fallout from that."

"Probably for the best," Reese agreed, though he sounded disappointed.

An awkward silence stretched in the kitchen and then Reese cleared his throat.

"Well, I just came back to see how you were," he said to Shaw. "I won't impose any longer."

"You're welcome to stay a day if you need to recover," Shaw offered.

"No, that's fine. I have an errand to run nearby anyway."

Root stayed behind in the kitchen while Shaw walked him out.

Reese waited until they were out of earshot of the kitchen to say anything.

"She seems...violent."

"Root? Yeah, that sounds about right."

"I was going to ask how you weren't bored by now, but I guess you've found a way to entertain yourself," Reese said.

"Root's not--"

"Yeah, I figured that part out." Reese shook his head. "Well, she's certainly something."

They stood uncomfortably by the front door.

"She's…." Shaw wasn't sure how to explain what Root was to her.

"I hear Control picked her up and you went and got her back and pissed off Control yet again."

"More or less."

"Didn't think you'd ever get within a hundred miles of Control again."

"Yeah, me either." She couldn't have just left Root there though.

"Some things are worth it, huh? I'm glad you--"

Shaw glared and opened the door. "See you again next decade."

"If you ever want to get back into the game," Reese said as he stepped out the door, "you know how to reach me." He vanished dramatically. Shaw wasn't sure what specifically about it was dramatic--it just was.

She shut the door again and turned to find Root watching her.

"I hope I didn't scare off your friend."

"Uh-huh," said Shaw, who was very sure that was _exactly_ what she'd hoped to do.

Root only smiled innocently. "Can't imagine what his rush was."

Shaw stalked back over to her and grabbed her night robe tie and tugged on it. "I think you said something about going down on me later." The knot pulled out and Root's robe framed her body in deep blue silk. "Is now later enough?"

"I did say that. Not here though."

Shaw expected Root to lead them back upstairs, but instead she headed towards Shaw's sitting room and through it to the round library room.

"I guess we haven't fucked in here yet," Shaw acknowledged.

"It might be the only room left," Root mused as she backed Shaw up against one of the bookcases.

Shaw pulled her pants and underwear down and kicked them aside. "No, there's a walk-in closet on the third floor and--"

Root cut her off with a kiss and then sank to her knees in front of her. "Well that just leaves us something to do tomorrow." She nudged Shaw's legs apart and leaned in.

Shaw rested her weight back against the shelf and relaxed into the sensations of Root's tongue between her legs. The books on the shelf behind her were all getting pushed back and she'd have to straighten them all out later, but that was a problem for future Shaw.

"Remember the first time you were here?" Shaw asked as she threaded one hand into Root's hair. "You drugged yourself on my fucking porch."

Root hummed in acknowledgment and the vibration echoed through Shaw.

"Did you have a contingency plan in case I'd left you out there?"

Root paused and sat back on her heels. "No, but I would have thought of something." She licked her lips slowly. "Maybe I would have climbed in a window."

"And you weren't even slightly afraid that the vampire in the castle would show up and kill you?"

Root slid two fingers into her and crooked them gently, pulling an unexpected moan out of Shaw.

"No," she said thoughtfully, her eyes locked on the movements of her fingers. "I knew it was a possibility, of course, but dying doesn't scare me much." She smiled. "And I thought the reward was worth the risk."

Shaw's fingers tightened in Root's hair when she leaned back in and sucked Shaw's clit into her mouth. Shaw wanted to say something else, something about how Root should be more careful, but a faint sound in the background that she'd been tuning out until now got noticeably louder. She turned her head to see the library door get bumped open a little wider and a small, determined roomba trundle into the room.

"Root." Shaw tugged her back by her hair. "Did you turn the roomba on?"

Root wiped her mouth on the back of her hand as she turned to look. "Oh, I gave Dustroyer some basic routine programming. She has a cleaning schedule and also some free time for herself."

"For the last time, it's not called Dustroyer. And what would a roomba even do with free time?" She reluctantly pulled away from Root and went to intercept the roomba. It beeped indignantly when she picked it up and carried it out the door.

"Shoo," she said as she set it down on the other side. She pressed the power button on top to get it started again and, without thinking, patted it once before it whirred away.

Root was still kneeling where she'd left her, failing to suppress her laughter. Shaw walked past her to the center of the room where there was a single chair and table on a black rug.

Shaw sank into the chair. "Come over here." She was still damned tired and not sure her legs wouldn't give out.

Root's knees were bright red from the hardwood floor and she winced slightly as she straightened up. However she didn't hesitate to kneel again in front of Shaw's chair. Shaw slid forwards to the edge of the chair and pulled Root's mouth back against her. This time there were no interruptions and Shaw fell apart with three of Root's fingers curling inside her and Root's skilled tongue on her clit.

Root sat between Shaw's feet and leaned her head against one of Shaw's legs.

"What did John mean at the end there?" she asked. "About getting back into the game?"

"You spying on us?" Shaw asked as she idly played with strands of Root's hair.

"Obviously. What did he mean?"

"Reese is...he's like a vigilante. Runs around saving people and beating up the bad guys. I used to help him sometimes."

"Like a super hero," Root suggested.

"He certainly seems to think he is." Shaw shrugged. "Reese has the right idea, maybe."

"Are you going to go back to helping him?"

"Not sure yet." She brushed a thumb across Root's cheekbone.

"Well--" Root pulled away and got to her feet, night robe flapping around her. "--have any plans for the rest of the day or shall we move this belated reunion upstairs?"

"As fun as that sounds, I need to go feed again and probably rest a little more." She felt like she'd drained what energy she had left. She got up and got her pants off the floor. "But, uh, about earlier…."

"Which part of earlier? When I threatened your friend with a crossbow, when I tortured a man to death, or the very thoughtful thank you sex you're probably hoping I'll never mention?"

Shaw threw her pants at Root who caught them with a chuckle.

"I meant the part where you...helped me out when I was sick." Shaw said. "Thanks for that." The last part was said to the floor.

Root walked over and kissed her on the cheek before she could stop her. "You're welcome, sweetie."

* * *

It took Shaw a few more days before she felt completely back to normal. The ache in her joints persisted after the other symptoms had faded and she still found herself feeling cold from time to time (at first it had been almost novel to feel cold again, but she was over it now). But by the the of the week she had recovered enough to start planning out an elaborate scenario to do something about the lack of bite marks Root was currently sporting.

She was in the middle of plotting that out one afternoon when Root rolled out of bed next to her and started getting dressed. Shaw frowned. There was no reason for Root to get dressed and every reason for her to get back into bed naked immediately.

"I have to run down to the village for something," Root explained when she saw Shaw sulking. "Don't worry, I'll be quick."

"What're you getting?"

"Oh, just something I picked up on my last job that I had shipped here."

Root sounded way too casual about it and Shaw squinted at her in suspicion. What horrible decorating decision was she going to inflict on Shaw this time?

With Root out of the house, Shaw got fully dressed for the first time in days and tried to find some meaningless chores around the house to keep herself busy. The books in the library finally got straightened out and the kitchen got tidied up. Her phone buzzed as she was putting away the last dish and she checked it to find a text from Reese.

_Hope you're feeling better. I've got a bit of a situation here in New York that I could use your help with if you're up for it._

She knew Reese well enough to know that 'a bit of a situation' probably meant an extremely dire, life-threatening disaster, and yeah, that actually sounded tempting. It wouldn't hurt to ask for more details anyway.

She was about to respond when she heard Root's car turning back up the road. Weird that she'd stolen a car instead of a bike this time. What would she have needed a car for? Maybe there hadn't been a motorcycle around?

She was halfway to the door when she picked up on other sounds as well. Sounds that Root definitely wasn't making.

"Oh, fuck no," Shaw growled as she pulled the front door open.

Root was strolling casually up her front walk, holding a black leash in one hand. On the other end of the leash was a large brown dog who was sniffing the overgrown flower beds with extreme interest.

"Root. What did you do?" Shaw asked threateningly.

"The last mark I killed was kind of an asshole, but he had this really sweet dog and I couldn't just leave it there to starve. That would have been cruel, Sameen." Root had the wide-eyed innocent look going full force.

"Why is it here? You're telling me you couldn't find a good home for it?"

The dog trotted up the steps ahead of Root and wagged its tail at Shaw. She tried very hard not to reach down and pat its head and failed miserably about half a second later.

"You said I could leave my stuff here if I needed to," Root pointed out.

"A dog isn't stuff, Root. And how are you going to look after it when you're running all over the world?" Shaw crouched down to scratch the dog's neck. It was only polite after all.

"His name is Bear and he's a Belgian...something starting with an M."

"Malinois."

"He's very well trained even if he isn't the right breed for a vampire."

"Which would be what?" Shaw asked and realized her mistake a second too late.

"A blood hound, of course."

Shaw glared and returned her attention to Bear. "This collar is dumb." It was red and had bones on it. There wasn't even one spike on it. What sort of bullshit collar was this?

"I'm sure you'll be able to find him a better one."

Shaw looked up at her. "I don't want a dog." Bear licked her ear and Root just looked at her with one eyebrow raised. "Did you even get food for him? Water bowl? Anything?"

"You can't just cook for him or something?"

Shaw stood up and snatched the leash from Root. "I think you're disqualified as a pet owner."

"Such a shame. I guess I'll have to find a new home for him then."

Shaw just glared at her and then went into the house leading Bear behind her. "I'm going down to the village to get some actual dog food and, while I'm gone, you are going to clean out the spare bedroom for him. He can stay there until we find a home for him."

Root looked properly horrified. "Clean?"

"Yeah, and no locking Dustroy-- the roomba in there and pretending you cleaned either."

It took Shaw longer than she anticipated to run her errand. Not because of the fading late afternoon sunlight, but because the pet supply store turned out to be an elaborate trap. There wasn't an appropriately spiky collar, but there was a large selection of sizes and shapes of bowls and beds and several aisles worth of different types of dog food. The terrified employee working at the store (who clearly knew exactly who she was) was basically useless in helping her select the best dog food and she had to gamble that the one she got was decent. She'd have to do some research later. If Bear was her...guest then he would only have the best.

She got back to her castle an hour later, arms full.

"Did you buy the whole store?" Root asked when she opened the front door.

"I should make you pay for all this." Shaw shoved the dog dishes at her. "A lot of this is temporary until I can find better stuff." She had a lot of ideas she'd bookmarked.

"So he gets to stay then?"

Shaw looked down at Bear who was staring at the bag of dog food she was holding and panting.

"On a trial basis," Shaw said firmly.

Root smirked. "Whatever you say, Shaw."

* * *

While operation get-Shaw-a-dog had gone off without a hitch, Root felt like it had backfired on her a bit. Shaw was adorably obsessed with her new dog, and that was great in terms of Root getting to witness a softer side of Shaw that was seemingly reserved only for canines, but not great in terms of Root getting laid.

She knew Shaw had been planning some elaborate sex thing or another for the last few days, but now all of Shaw's creative energy seemed to go into finding the perfect dog bed and collar for Bear and not into finding new ways to get Root off. This was where her selfless act had gotten her--alone in bed because Shaw had gone down to check on Bear again (as if she couldn't hear what he was up to just fine with her vampire senses).

But it was almost worth it to watch Shaw playing tug-o-war with Bear in the yard in the evenings, a crooked grin on her lips and her eyes shining. Almost.

Fortunately for everyone involved, after a day or two Shaw finally decided on all the correct dog accessories and returned to more important matters. Which was how Root found herself being cuffed to Shaw's bed the next night.

"Maybe I should go walk Bear one last time before we start," Shaw said as she finished fastening the last cuff around Root's ankle. There was the tiniest hint of a smile on her lips.

Root tried to kick her but that was impossible in her current position. With each of her hands and feet tied to separate bedposts there was no way she was moving without Shaw's help.

"And maybe I should find a snot-faced orphan child to take Bear in," Root countered.

Shaw chuckled. "That'd be more believable if I hadn't found you napping with him yesterday."

So maybe Bear had grown on her a little. He was good company while she was working.

"So what's the plan here?" Root asked as Shaw pulled her shirt off over her head.

"You don't want it to be a surprise?" Shaw picked up a blindfold from the nightstand.

Root lifted her head to let Shaw tie the blindfold on her. In just about any other circumstance in her life, a situation like this where she had almost no physical control would have been intolerable. Her work required her to be in extreme and exact control all the time over herself and all the potential circumstances, and that had bled over into the rest of her life. Or, more accurately, until Shaw that had _been_ her entire life--the job--and she'd never once stopped to realize how fucking exhausting it was. Exciting and challenging, sure, but also exhausting.

Even when she'd had sex she'd never had sex as herself, always as some passing identity, whatever worked best to get what she wanted out of it, and she'd rarely been able to hand over any sort of control to anyone else. Shaw had been a very different situation right from the start. As a vampire she was already outside the bounds of normal society in much the same way that Root was. Root had tried the whole damsel in distress routine and that had lasted right up until she'd gotten inside Shaw's castle and spoken with her for the first time. She hadn't known then that Shaw mostly pretended to be human when she hooked up with people and had been in much the same situation as her, but she'd felt some sort of honesty between them that had made her not think twice about telling Shaw her real name and occupation.

She'd let Shaw cuff her to the bed the second day she'd been there and, while it was hardly the first time she'd been cuffed, there had been a sense of relief that came with it that was brand new. She hadn't had to worry about maintaining a facade or staying in control of the situation, she just had to relax and trust Shaw to make her feel good. It had felt like she'd set down a huge weight that she hadn't even been aware she was carrying.

And that was why she hadn't hesitated to let Shaw tie her up tonight and instead smiled and said, "Okay, Shaw, surprise me."

"Good." Shaw's lips brushed hers once, briefly, and then vanished.

It was the first time she'd been blindfolded since she'd lost her hearing in her right ear, a fact she became extremely aware of almost instantly. Without being able to see, she had to rely more heavily on her other senses--especially her hearing--and the heavy silence on her right side was inescapable now. Shaw had moved away to her left side (almost certainly on purpose, knowing Shaw) so she could still hear her, but even with that knowledge she couldn't relax anymore. Her fingers bit into her palms and she tried to concentrate on controlling her breathing.

The bed shifted again and then the blindfold got pulled away and she was blinking up at Shaw's face. There was just the slightest crease between Shaw's eyebrows, but Root knew what her worried expression looked like by now.

"Sorry," she said. "Maybe save the blindfold for a different night?"

"Sorry is for when you bring home surprise dogs," Shaw said. "Not for this sort of thing."

She cut off any attempts at a response by leaning down to kiss Root, a deeper kiss this time, and definitely not a soft one. Shaw nipped at her lip and Root felt one of her fangs brush her lightly. Shaw had stripped above the waist and she settled down on top of Root so they were pressed together, Shaw's breasts against hers. Her fingertips itched to be able to touch Shaw. She had a feeling this impromptu makeout session hadn't been part of the original plan and was Shaw's way of letting her get her bearings back. It was the sort of thing that would have annoyed her had it been anyone other than Shaw, but with Shaw's body warm on top of hers and Shaw's tongue in her mouth it was very hard to be annoyed.

Root felt herself relaxing, felt the weight of all her problems slipping away again. Shaw would never let anything bad happen to her--she'd proven that several times over now. When Shaw finally pulled away, Root had almost forgotten about the momentary terror she'd felt.

Shaw slid down her body, but only a little, and moved to her left, running her lips along Root's arm. She paused at the elbow and, before Root had a chance to work out what she was up to, sank her fangs into the soft skin on the inside of Root's elbow.

Root drew in a sharp breath at the unexpected pain. Heat flooded through her from where Shaw had bit her and she wondered if Shaw meant to get her off quickly if she was using her aphrodisiac bite on her already. But Shaw released her almost immediately and the thick strands of heat running through her from the bite mark settled low in her body. It felt good--very good--but nowhere near enough. Maybe it was just a warm-up?

Shaw glanced up at her briefly and then moved over to lick a hot line across the top of one of Root's breasts. Root expected it this time, but she still whimpered when Shaw's fangs sank into her again. That same compelling heat spread from the new bite and mingled with the first.

She tried to roll her hips up into Shaw and get some of the friction she was becoming increasingly more desperate for, but Shaw had her firmly pinned.

Once again Shaw only bit her briefly and then moved on. This time she went back up, brushing Root's hair aside to bare her neck. She paused to smirk at Root.

"You look pleased with yourself, sweetie." Just what was she up to?

"Guess I just enjoy getting to be a pain in your neck."

Root was so torn between being impressed at Shaw's pun and annoyed that she'd somehow neglected to use it herself that she didn't have a chance to prepare herself for Shaw's fangs sinking roughly into her neck. That same pulse of heat spread out again, making her squirm under Shaw. That had been a larger dose this time, she thought, because she was extremely ready for Shaw to touch her now.

Much to her relief, Shaw moved down her body next and settled between her legs. Root's entire body felt hot and heavy, tied up by not just the cuffs, but the raw desire thrumming through her veins.

Her leg jerked when Shaw's fangs sank into the soft skin of her thigh.

"Fuck!" God, it felt amazing, but it also felt like her whole body was being wound tighter and tighter, like a spring. More of that engulfing heat flooded through her, and she strained against the cuffs to try and reach Shaw somehow.

Shaw raised her head to look at her and licked the blood off of one of her fangs with expert precision. Root shivered. All it would take now was for Shaw to touch her, even a little, and she was sure she would come instantly.

Shaw studied her for a long second and then leaned back down and kissed the inside of her other thigh. Root only had a second to groan in frustration before Shaw bit her again and the burning heat drowned out everything else.

Her whole body ached with overwhelming need, her mind unable to focus on anything else. Something touched her hip--Shaw's hand, a cool anchor against the inescapable heat, and then finally, finally she felt Shaw's mouth on her and she shattered instantly. Her body spasmed and her arms and legs pulled against the cuffs as wave after wave rolled through her.

Usually after she came while under the influence of Shaw's vampire aphrodisiac toxin, the inescapable burning need it wove through her dissipated fairly quickly, but this time it felt like it had barely lessened at all. She twisted on the sheets and tried to grind herself against Shaw's mouth.

Shaw must have caught on because Root felt Shaw's fingers gliding over her once before pushing in to her. It wasn't nearly enough. She tried to say Shaw's name, but Shaw pushed another finger into her and her voice came out in a whine. Shaw wasn't teasing now, her fingers and mouth working hard to drive Root over the edge again, but even when Root was gasping and shaking through her second orgasm she could tell it still wasn't over.

"Damn, I really got you good, huh?" Shaw said as she pulled her mouth away.

"Shaw, please!" Root's whole body ached with need so intense she couldn't stay still. She shut her eyes, bit her lip, and tried to get a grip on herself.

"One second," Shaw said from nearby.

Root had never been more grateful for Shaw's vampiric speed as she was now. Wherever Shaw had gone, she returned from within seconds and crawled back onto the bed. Root felt something brush up against her thigh and moaned in relief. Shaw pushed into her with a single thrust of her hips. Root's head pressed back into the mattress and her mouth fell open as the thick length of the strap-on Shaw had gotten filled her. Shaw rocked her hips a few times and god Root wanted to come again immediately but she also wanted to never stop feeling this desperate high that had overtaken her.

Whatever dildo Shaw had chosen felt larger than any of their usual ones and fuck did it feel perfect right now, rubbing against all the right spots and making her feel so deeply full. It didn't take more than a few minutes of Shaw's steady thrusts and some pressure on her clit for Root to tumble over the edge for the third time, and this time, this time, she let go completely.

When she finally regained control of her limp body, the heat had finally burned itself out, leaving her thoroughly spent. She felt Shaw undo the cuffs on her ankles and was able to blink her eyes back open by the time Shaw came up to the top of the bed to free her wrists.

"Think _you_ almost broke the fucking bed this time," Shaw said as she rubbed one of Root's wrists.

"Mmm." Root hadn't fully regained the ability to speak yet, but she managed to smile up at Shaw.

"C'mon, get up."

Before Root could protest, Shaw scooped her up off the bed and carried her through the door into the bathroom. The jacuzzi tub had been filled with steaming hot water, though Root couldn't remember Shaw having left to do so (maybe she had blacked out briefly after all). She expected Shaw to put her down in the tub, but instead Shaw climbed over the side and sank down into the water still holding Root.

Root rested her head on Shaw's shoulder and enjoyed the hot water and the feeling of Shaw's arms still encircling her. The bathroom was peaceful, only disturbed by the slight rippling of the water whenever one of them moved.

"I think I'm going to help Reese with a thing he's in the middle of," Shaw said out of nowhere. "Sounds like he's gotten himself into trouble."

"Okay," Root said, unsure why Shaw was bringing this up now. She was trying to bask in the afterglow and that definitely didn't include talking about John Reese. "Did you need my help with whatever it is?"

"Not sure yet, but it's possible." Shaw readjusted herself and sank a little lower in the water, pulling Root with her. "If I'm in New York helping him, I might not be here for a few days. Or weeks."

"Poor Bear. Abandoned so soon."

"Eh, there's some folks in the village I can get to watch him while I'm gone if I need to. Or maybe I'll bring him with me."

"Can I come as well?" she asked as if she wasn't already plotting how to track Shaw if she said no.

"I thought you might have a job or something."

"I've got nothing planned for the immediate future." Her plan had been to spend a month or two with Shaw and she wasn't about to let that fail. "I'd like to tag along. Unless you'd rather I didn't?"

"No, that's…." Shaw huffed in frustration. "I wanted you to come with me but I wasn't sure if…." She shrugged, making Root's head bounce on her shoulder. "You'll have to work with Reese without killing him."

"I'm sure we'll work something out." She didn't think it would be hard to run rings around someone like John Reese.

"And I don't want you getting directly involved in vampire bullshit unless you have to."

"I can take care of myself, Shaw."

"I'm well aware, or I wouldn't be asking you in the first place."

"Then that's settled. When do we leave?" Root shifted her weight. "I think I might need a few hours to recover first." She could tell she was going to be sore tomorrow but damn had it been worth it.

Shaw snorted. "Not until the end of the week. You'll have plenty of time to recover from a lot more than that."

Root grinned. She liked the sound of that.

They didn't come back to the conversation until much later that night when Root was curled up in bed with Shaw wrapped around her back.

"What would you have done if I'd said you couldn't come?" Shaw asked, her voice a low murmur in Root's ear.

"I always get to come eventually with you around."

Shaw poked her in the ribs. "To New York, I meant."

Root could have lied, but…. "I would have shown up anyway."

"Yeah, I figured." Shaw sounded amused. "At least this way I'll know what you're up to."

Root highly doubted that would be the case, but she took Shaw's point. "You know it wouldn't be nearly as fun without me, sweetie."

Shaw nudged her with her nose and smiled against the side of her neck. "It definitely wouldn't."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can tell, I left the setup for a further story, but damn I really need to stop procrastinating and finish the extremely long fic I'm almost at the end of before I write more.


End file.
